


'Til Death Do We Part

by AntsySerpentine



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Death, Death Swap Prompt, Game: Halo: Reach, Grief, Halo Reach, Mention of Kat-B320, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntsySerpentine/pseuds/AntsySerpentine
Summary: The Package is en route to The Pillar of Autumn, with Emile piloting the Pelican. As the Covenant continues to grow in numbers, Noble Four makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that his Commander and Noble Six complete the mission at hand.
Relationships: Emile-A239 | Noble Four/Noble Six | SPARTAN-B312, Talia-B271 | Emile-A239
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	'Til Death Do We Part

Talia was surprised that Emile was the one piloting the Pelican to begin with. Knowing his main skillset with close quarters, specifically centering around ground assaults, she was caught off guard to say the very least. He had switched spots with Carter not very long after they had left Sword Base, or well, after what was left of it collapsed into rubble and debris.

Time seemed to pass like a hazed blur, and soon they were being pursued by several banshees on their tail. Carter stood close to the hatch, having swapped weapons with Emile and was launching grenades at the hulls of the Banshees to try and ward them off.

To do anything, something to try and slow them down. The nonstop assault of plasma rounds burned and scorched the Pelican, and with the hatch being left open, it left for too many perfect hits in case one of the pilots had an accurate shot.

“Noble Four. Seek immediate medical attention.”   
  


Talia drew in a sharp breath. She already knew that Emile was in a critical condition, and struggling in trying to keep the Pelican steady as best he could. A hard lump formed in her throat as she glanced over his status in her HUD. A few minutes ago, he was in the orange alert. Now it was showing up as red.

  
“Noble Four, please respond.” 

It was so strange to her to see Emile’s weapon in Carter’s hands. It was strange, it was wrong. The more her mind lingered on it, the more that she found that it was bothering her. Although she couldn’t explain the twisting in her gut, she had the sinking feeling that the day wasn't going to end without some sort of tragedy.

“Please respond Sierra 2 3 9. You are alarming me.”

Another blast of plasma shook the military bird as Talia turned to start heading up towards the cockpit to check up on the Spartan. She had nearly lost her balance and reached to grasp at the material of the pilot’s chair, pulling herself up and next to Emile’s side.

The Spartan’s breathing was ragged, and Noble Six was able to see that despite the fact they had taken to the skies that it didn't ensure any of them were protected from the Covenant by any means. She stared in silent horror, though she knew that he could endure being in such rough shape, she could feel her gut twist once more, but in a way that sickened her.

The glass on the windshield was cracked, spattered with his blood. Emile’s visor had sustained severe damage. All the scratches that the Spartan had meticulously carved into his helmet as a show of his ferocity in battle, as a show of his victories, had led to it shattering, fragments of silver and gold scattered on the ground in front of him. 

Enough of it was missing to where Talia could see through the deep fractures and catch a very faint glimpse of part of his face. From the little she was able to see, she knew he was bleeding.

“Didn’t think we’d be having this bumpy a ride.” His voice rasped, a hint of a growl edging in his tone. Emile jerked his head towards where Six had appeared, forcing out a small huff.

  
  
“Looks like you and Carter are gonna have to hoof it from here. Got Covie’s flying at us left and right.”

“You can’t be serious about this, a--?”

“It ain’t a damn suggestion, Six. There isn't any other way this is gonna go down well if you two stay on here. They’ll kill us before we get to the Autumn.”

  
Talia had to stop herself from arguing back and forth with him. She knew that the situation was dire as is. She didn’t want to have to believe that she had to leave him behind, and a sharp pang stabbed at her heart as she bit back her initial response and nodded her head.

  
  
“Understood.” She had to put more effort into keeping her tone level, trying not to get too choked up.

It’s not like this should have come as any surprise that something like this would have ended up happening. It was going to happen sooner or later. Talia just didn’t want it to be happening now. She didn’t want to lose him now.

“Carter, you’re getting off with her, make sure the package makes it to the Autumn.” 

“It’s been an honor, Emile. We’ll get it done.”

“Both of you, get ready to jump on my mark.”

Noble Six had reluctantly moved towards the back of the Pelican, the hatch open behind her and Carter. She kept low, crouching near the ground. Carter was upright, a hand firmly clasped to the metal near their exit.

_‘This isn’t really happening, is it? This is just a dream, right? Just a horrible, horrible dream that I’ll wake up from?’_

It was what she truly wanted to believe. She wanted to believe it with every fiber of her being. 

“Three . . .”

She wanted to believe it was just a nightmare when she fell from the atmosphere alone, plummeting into the unforgiving surface of Reach. She wanted to believe it wasn’t real when her sister, her comrade, that she had grown up with, crumpled into an empty heap beside her. She wanted to think it was just a dream when they had parted ways with their marksman, and she wanted to ignore the twisting in her gut that told her he was already dead.

“Two . . .”

And now, she was hoping that Emile wasn’t going to do what he had already set his mind on doing. She didn’t want to believe this was the reality of things. If she hasn’t woken up yet, this nightmare was never ending.

“One . . .”

Talia could deny it all she wanted, but she had watched them die one by one, and she knew she was going to have to watch half of her soul die as well. She knew it was going to happen, she just didn’t know _when._

“ . . . Mark!”

In an instant, both Noble One and Noble Six launched themselves off of the platform, falling backward and down, down, down to the ground below them. The sound of their aerial pursuers resumed their horrifying melody. Plasma continued to pelt the rear of the Pelican as the screeching of the Banshees overhead passed. 

On one hand, it almost felt like it took forever to get to the dust and the dirt, their landing rough, as it usually tends to be with jumps like those. Talia watched as her shields lowered, having absorbed a great deal of the impact. Noble Six moved to push herself back and onto her feet, brushing off the dust as her shields recharged. 

Carter was on his feet as well and took point. Six followed him, silent and solemn, her DMR at the ready. The Pillar of Autumn was in the distance, resting just before the horizon before them. Both Spartans edged closer to the cliffside. 

“There she is. Let’s get moving, Spartan.”

Noble One went to take the small trail that circled around and about halfway down, he gave Six a small hand signal. She responded with a nod, activating her cloaking device before she slid down the steep incline. They didn’t have any time to waste; it was time to get to work.

* * *

Everything since the jump felt like a blur. Talia couldn’t recall the events over the past half an hour, all that she was concerned about was to keep pushing and pushing and pushing through. She needed to stay focused on the task at hand. 

Delivering the package to the Autumn. She needed to get the package to the Autumn.

Blood spattered on her armor from each and every one of her quarries that were unfortunate enough to end up within knife blade distance. It was like clockwork, and the Spartan was able to busy herself with ensuring that every Covenant in their path was slain.

A bloody, red-tinted haze that stayed at the edges of her vision. It was what was keeping her sane, it kept her distracted from worrying about the status of Noble Four. His status pinged red, and it had been in the red for a bit of time, she wasn’t sure how long.

The explosion of the Wraith that she and Carter had been up against ripped her from her trance-like state, grounding her back into the battlefield and her teammate. 

“Are you hurt?”

“No. Let’s keep moving.”

But of course, there wasn’t going to be any semblance of a break for her trigger finger. They hadn’t even gotten to the mouth of the cave before pings of subanese crystal whizzed past their helmets. The returning fire was staccato and brief, cutting the squawks of the horrid bird-like creatures in their path. 

Talia stepped over the corpses and continued on through, glancing over her trackers as more red blips showed up on her radar. She moved her visor towards Carter, of only for a moment in pause as she made an effort to soften her steps. 

“Buggers up ahead, boss.” Six’s voice was barely above a whisper, shifting to feed her DMR a new magazine.

No more words needed to be shared between the two after that. The insects would be waiting for them no matter what, though their silence gave them the advantage of surprise, if it could even be called that. No, perhaps to quell the feeling of unease in Six’s chest.

Within moments, a swarm was over Talia and Carter, the screeching of Yanme’e filling the air as plasma hailed down on the Spartans’ armor. Short bursts of bullets were fired back, either with the intent to save ammunition or to allow more accuracy for hitting the moving targets. 

Tak tak tak! Tak tak tak ! Tak tak tak!

A rhythm, the percussive sound of it accompanied Talia’s relief as the hunks of carapace dropped to the dust and the dirt. Half of her wondered if they ever got bigger than this, as they were already large enough to be able to carry off a Marine on their own. The thought vanished as soon as it came; it was not important or helpful, as she had other tasks to concern herself with.

Talia’s armor had taken quite the beating since the leap from the Pelican. Though while her shields have the ability to recharge and bounce back, her armor was scorched, dented and scratched, paint peeled on edges and surfaces that saw the most erosion. By the time that this was all over, that everything was done, she knew she was going to need replacements.

If she makes it off of this planet alive, that is.

The silence that followed after both Spartans had wiped out the Drones was brief. Not even a full thirty seconds passed until the trilling of T’voans came into earshot as three red blips appeared on Talia’s trackers.

Gunshots rang out and ended the confrontation before it could even begin. The Skirmishers had been too overzealous in their attempts to reach the Spartans, which made them far too easy to pick off. A huff of satisfaction escaped Talia as she moved to reload her weapon.

Several minutes passed before Talia and Carter reached the end of the twists and turns of the caverns. They came towards an opening that led to the road to take them to the Autumn, but it was still a good distance away. The ship itself wasn’t even visible on the horizon.

The ground started shaking under both Spartan’s boots, rumbling that was distinct to the presence of a Scarab.

_‘Oh god no.’_

The massive Covenant structure had climbed into view near the path that both Talia and Carter needed to take in order to make it to the Pillar of Autumn. It was close, too close for comfort. They could try to get past it, and they might be able to do so on foot, but at what cost?

Talia racked her brain, trying to think of a solution, something that would ensure that they’d make it to the ship in one piece.

“Son of a--” 

Carter tightened his grip on his weapon, moving to stare past the opening at the Scarab.

“That’s gonna be tough to get past.”

“Negative boss, you ain’t gonna be able to make it. I’ll be able to get ‘er down.”

“Emile--” The protest was there, but it already seemed to sound that Carter knew exactly what his brother was going to do. “You don’t have enough firepower for it.”

Talia could feel her blood turn to ice. She knew exactly what Emile was going to do, and she knew for damn sure that he wasn’t going to survive if he went through with it. She was absolutely helpless to stop it, and she knew she couldn’t change his mind. 

“Well I sure as hell have the mass to take this bitch out.”

“Solid copy. Hit ‘em hard, Spartan.”

“It’ll be just you two from here, give ‘em hell for me. Emile, out.”

_‘NO.’_ The scream died in her throat before she could make it.

She didn’t want to watch. Talia didn’t want to watch as the burning military bird took a nosedive and careened straight into the side of the Covenant vessel. She didn’t want to watch as the creature screeched, the explosion forcing it down, making it crumple underneath Emile’s final action, his sacrifice for his Commander and for Talia.

Noble Six was frozen on the spot. She saw the exact moment that his vitals stopped for good. She could see the status of KIA flash above where his name was on her HUD. 

She couldn’t breathe, but she could hear ragged, desperate gasps, and it took her more than a few seconds to realize that they were hers. It felt as though the ground got ripped out from underneath her, as though someone had plunged a red hot iron deep inside of her chest and let it burn.

Emile was gone. 

“Six.” Carter’s voice was just barely able to pull her from losing her composure right then and there, and she could feel it continuing to slip away like sand through her fingers.

“Talia, I need you to stay with me, we’re not done yet.” 

A hand clasped onto her shoulder, and the visor of her Commander moved to stay in line with the pitch black that stared towards the site of the wreckage, ultimately cutting it from her field of sight.  
  
“I need you to look at me, Tal. We still have a mission to complete, and we won’t let what he did be in vain. Just a bit longer, Six, that’s all I’m asking.”   
  
Another squeeze of the shoulder followed, and it served to help ground her, her attention shifting towards Carter. She could _hear_ the pain in his voice. She could hear that he was trying to keep himself together after watching his brother-in-arms go down in flames.

“Yes, sir.”

Her response was strained, her voice breaking just a bit as well.

“Let’s make him proud. We’re headed for the crevice to the east, Six.”

Talia nodded, watching as Carter took point and continued on, following behind shortly afterward. Her heart ached with every step, but she didn’t let it slow her down.

_No, Emile wouldn’t have wanted that._ He would have wanted her to keep fighting, to fight harder, in his absence. Emile would have wanted her to keep pushing through to make the Covenant regret setting a single foot down onto Reach.

Instead, she allowed herself to simmer in her rage, she knew she would need it. It would be the fuel that would help her survive. She could feel it course through her body, her blood boiling at the sight of every Covenant soldier that crossed her path.

There would be no mercy, no reprieve, and no escape from the Spartan who lost her other half. Noble Six committed herself to becoming the unrelenting Demon feared among the Covenant.

_‘I’m ready, how about you?’_


End file.
